Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Brandon: Hey there! I’m Brandon and welcome back to VietnamesePod101.com. This is lower beginner Season 1, Lesson 13 - Disagreeing With Your Vietnamese Friend
Huyen: Xin chào! I’m Huyen.
Brandon: In this lesson you'll learn how to express disagreement. The conversation takes place at a clothing shop and is between Minh and An.
Huyen: The speakers are friends, so they'll be using informal Vietnamese.
Brandon: Let’s listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

Minh: Cậu thấy áo dài này thế nào?
An: Đẹp đấy.
Minh: Làm quà sinh nhật cho Mary được không?
An: Màu tím có vẻ không hợp với cô ấy.
Minh: Tớ không nghĩ vậy. Mary da sáng, mặc màu tím hợp mà.
An: Nhưng màu tím trông già.
Minh: Vậy chọn màu trắng nhé.
An: Ừ được đấy.
Brandon: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly.
Minh: Cậu thấy áo dài này thế nào?
An: Đẹp đấy.
Minh: Làm quà sinh nhật cho Mary được không?
An: Màu tím có vẻ không hợp với cô ấy.
Minh: Tớ không nghĩ vậy. Mary da sáng, mặc màu tím hợp mà.
An: Nhưng màu tím trông già.
Minh: Vậy chọn màu trắng nhé.
An: Ừ được đấy.
Brandon: Now let’s hear it with the English translation.
Minh: Cậu thấy áo dài này thế nào?
Brandon: What do you think about this ao dai?
An: Đẹp đấy.
Brandon: Beautiful.
Minh: Làm quà sinh nhật cho Mary được không?
Brandon: Will it make a good birthday present for Mary?
An: Màu tím có vẻ không hợp với cô ấy.
Brandon: Violet doesn't seem to suit her.
Minh: Tớ không nghĩ vậy. Mary da sáng, mặc màu tím hợp mà.
Brandon: I don't think so. Mary has fair skin, she must look nice in violet.
An: Nhưng màu tím trông già.
Brandon: But violet looks old.
Minh: Vậy chọn màu trắng nhé.
Brandon: Then choose the white one.
An: Ừ được đấy.
Brandon: Yeah, that's nice.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Brandon: Huyen, ao dai is a traditional Vietnamese outfit, right?
Huyen: That’s right. The literal translation is “a long dress” but in English we still use ao dai because there is no exact equivalent.
Brandon: I see. And it's also a symbol of Vietnamese culture, so I think the Vietnamese word “ao dai” should be kept like this. Can you describe this outfit a little bit?
Huyen: Sure. It's usually made of silk, with long sleeves and two flaps - one front flap and one back flap, and is worn over pantaloons.
Brandon: How long is the flap?
Huyen: It's different between men’s ao dai and women’s ao dai. In men’s ao dai, the length of the flap is often to the middle of the calf, while the women’s is often to the ankle.
Brandon: Oh, is there ao dai for men, too? I thought it was only for women.
Huyen: Yes, there is. But it's mostly worn by women, so the image of a Vietnamese women wearing ao dai is more familiar to people.
Brandon: I think it would be interesting to see how the outfit looks on Vietnamese men too, though.
Huyen: Yeah, you can search for some images online. In reality, some men wear ao dai on their wedding day if they want to have a traditional wedding party.
Brandon: Interesting. But I see that the ao dai for women is a tight-fitting type of dress, and it’s very personalized, right?
Huyen: Right. That’s why ao dai is often tailor-made for each body size. The tight-fitting feature increases the femininity of the women wearing it.
Brandon: Listeners, please check the lesson notes for more information about this beautiful traditional outfit. Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Brandon: The first word we shall see is:
Huyen: thấy [natural native speed]
Brandon: to see, to feel, to think
Huyen: thấy [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: thấy [natural native speed]
Next:
Huyen: áo dài [natural native speed]
Brandon: ao dai (Vietnamese traditional outfit, mostly worn by women)
Huyen: áo dài [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: áo dài [natural native speed]
Next:
Huyen: làm [natural native speed]
Brandon: to do
Huyen: làm [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: làm [natural native speed]
Next:
Huyen: quà sinh nhật [natural native speed]
Brandon: birthday present
Huyen: quà sinh nhật [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: quà sinh nhật [natural native speed]
Next:
Huyen: màu tím [natural native speed]
Brandon: violet (color)
Huyen: màu tím [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: màu tím [natural native speed]
Next:
Huyen: hợp [natural native speed]
Brandon: to fit, to match, get on with, suitable
Huyen: hợp [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: hợp [natural native speed]
Next:
Huyen: cô ấy [natural native speed]
Brandon: she, her
Huyen: cô ấy [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: cô ấy [natural native speed]
Next:
Huyen: da [natural native speed]
Brandon: skin
Huyen: da [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: da [natural native speed]
Next:
Huyen: sáng [natural native speed]
Brandon: bright, fair (skin)
Huyen: sáng [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: sáng [natural native speed]
And Last:
Huyen: màu trắng [natural native speed]
Brandon: white (color)
Huyen: màu trắng [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Huyen: màu trắng [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Brandon: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson.The first word is…
Huyen: “thấy”.
Brandon: This verb originally means “to see,” but it's also commonly used to express an opinion or idea, like in this dialogue, or it's used to express feelings. In this case, it means “to think” or “to feel.”
Huyen: For example, Sáng nay, tôi thấy Mai đi vào cửa hàng máy tính.
Brandon: “This morning, I saw Mai going to a computer shop.”
Huyen: Tôi thấy hơi mệt.
Brandon: “I feel a little tired.”
Huyen: Tôi thấy là cô ấy rất sáng tạo.
Brandon: “I think she's very creative.”
Huyen: The second word is làm
Brandon: This is a very useful verb and has a lot of meanings. It can mean “to do” as in…
Huyen: làm bài tập
Brandon: "do homework"
Huyen: làm vườn
Brandon: "do the gardening"
Huyen: làm việc nhà
Brandon: "do housework"
Brandon: And it also means “to be" or "to work as” when followed by a noun of occupation.
Huyen: làm kỹ sư
Brandon: "to be, or, to work as an engineer"
Huyen: làm giáo viên
Brandon: "to be, or, to work as a teacher."
Brandon: The next meaning is “to make, to build, or to create”
Huyen: làm bánh
Brandon: "to make a cake"
Huyen: làm nhà
Brandon: "to build a house"
Huyen: làm thơ
Brandon: "to write a poem"
Huyen: làm bạn
Brandon: "to make a friend"
Huyen: “làm” also means “to organize or to hold” such as “làm tiệc sinh nhật”
Brandon: "to organize a birthday party"
Huyen: làm cỗ
Brandon: "to prepare a feast"
Huyen: The last meaning is “to function as”. For example, làm chủ ngữ của câu
Brandon: "to function as the subject of a sentence."
Huyen: làm đòn bẩy
Brandon: "to be, or, to function as the driving force behind something."
Brandon: Lastly, we’ll learn about colors in the form of an adjective or noun.
Huyen: In the dialogue, we heard “màu tím” which literally means “violet color”. This is a noun. “Tím” means “violet” and is the adjective. To make its noun, simply add the word “màu,” which means “color,” in front of its adjective.
Brandon: This rule is applied to all other colors. You can also hear in the dialogue another color, which is:
Huyen: màu trắng
Brandon: "white color." Its adjective is
Huyen: trắng
Brandon: "white." If an adjective of color or its noun complements another noun, they're both put behind that noun.
Huyen: áo tím or áo màu tím.
Brandon: "a violet shirt"
Huyen: khăn đỏ or khăn màu đỏ
Brandon: "a red scarf" Ok, now let’s move on to the grammar.

Lesson focus

Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to express disagreement.
Huyen: In the dialogue, we had Tớ không nghĩ vậy.
Brandon: “I don’t think so.”
Huyen: So here, you start with the first person pronoun. In this case, it's “tớ” because the speaker is talking with her friend. In general, the pronoun “tôi” is used. Then add “không” which means “no or not”, followed by the verb “nghĩ,” meaning “to think,” and finally “vậy,” which means “so, or like that”.
Brandon: You can also add your own opinion right after this sentence.
Huyen: Again, the whole sentence is, Tôi không nghĩ vậy.
Brandon: "I don’t think so." Remember the subject pronoun
Huyen: ...“tôi”
Brandon: ...will change depending on who the speaker is talking to.
Huyen: Let’s explain a bit more about the sentence-ending particle “vậy”. This particle is the short form of the phrase “như vậy”, which literally means “like that”.
Brandon: It's put at the end of a statement to refer to something that's been said before.
Huyen: This particle has a synonym, which is “thế”. Its full form is “như thế,” which also means “like that,” and it's used the same way as “vậy”.
Brandon: In other words, they can be used interchangeably.
Huyen: It means that you can also express your disagreement by saying, Tôi không nghĩ thế.
Brandon: “I don’t think so”. Let’s hear some more examples.
Huyen: Tôi nghĩ học đại học là con đường duy nhất để thành công.
:
Brandon: “I think studying at a university is the only path to success.”
Huyen: Tôi không nghĩ vậy.
Brandon: “I don’t think so.”
Huyen: Hà Nội đẹp nhất vào mùa hè.
:
Brandon: “Ha Noi is the most beautiful in summer.”
Huyen: Tôi không nghĩ thế. Hà Nội đẹp hơn vào mùa thu.
Brandon: “I don’t think so. Ha Noi is more beautiful in autumn.”
Huyen: In short, to express your disagreement about something that’s been mentioned before, you can say, “Tôi không nghĩ vậy” or “Tôi không nghĩ thế”.
Brandon: Then you can add your own opinion after that.
Huyen: There are two other ways to talk about disagreement. Firstly, “Tôi không đồng ý với” followed by a pronoun or a person’s name
Brandon: "I don’t agree with someone."
Huyen: For example, “Tôi không đồng ý với anh”
Brandon: "I don’t agree with you." You use this when you're talking with a slightly older man.
Huyen: Tôi không đồng ý với họ.
Brandon: "I don’t agree with them."
Huyen: Tôi không đồng ý với anh Nam.
Brandon: "I don’t agree with Mr Nam."
Huyen: The second way is, “Tôi không thấy vậy” or “Tôi không thấy thế”. You can hear that only the verb “nghĩ” is changed into the verb “thấy” – the other parts stay the same.
Brandon: In most cases, this also means “I don’t think so”. But it also means “I don’t feel so”.
Huyen: Did you notice that this is another usage of the verb “thấy,” which we have just learned in the vocabulary section?
Brandon: Let’s give our listeners some examples.
Huyen: Hôm nay lạnh nhỉ?
Brandon: “It’s so cold today, isn’t it?”
Huyen: Tôi không thấy thế.
Brando: “I don’t feel so.”
Huyen: Bộ phim này hay thật.
Brandon: “This movie is so good.”
Huyen: Tôi không thấy thế.
Brandon: “I don’t think so.” Listeners, now you've learned the most common ways to express your disagreement in Vietnamese!

Outro

Huyen: We hope that you will be able to use them in your next chat with a Vietnamese friend.
Brandon: For a review of this lesson and more detailed information, please check the accompanying lesson notes. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time.
Huyen: Tạm biệt!
Brandon: Bye!

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